Jack's Room, 33 Apocalypse Ave., Sunday Morning

[bitten_notshy]

After he got back to the island, Jack spent most of the day Saturday parked in front of intentionally bad TV. It was easier not to think about what had happened in Beacon Hills if he was staring at Kardashian Kleavage. He went to bed early, fell into a dreamless sleep.

Sunday had promised more of the same until he checked his school email and realized his midterms were during the coming week. He groaned and turned on his laptop. Werewolf angst could wait: Right now, he had to pull a half-decent paper on the Bayeaux tapestry together if he had any hope of passing the last class for his major.

[OOC: Open to visits, calls, etc.]

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

"You're prettier than the Bayeux tapestry, I'll give you that," Jack said. It was comforting to have Emma be so thoroughly Emma at him. "No,the studying's fine. If I take a few classes over the summer I'll be ready to graduate in December."

And then ion to law school, because he was a glutton for punishment.

"What are you up to?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Manicure. Candy and I are going out tonight and we're going to see how long it takes before one of us causes a fight," Emma shared. "And then we're going to get roaring drunk because finals are over and we have an entire week before summer session starts. What color should I paint my nails?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Do you have sky blue polish?" Jack suggested. "And that sounds like a brilliant plan for a night out. Probably you won't have to pay for a single drink."

Jack would have been incredulous if it had been suggested he should be jealous.

[icecoldfrost]

The only thing that Emma would have assumed Jack would be jealous of is that her finals were done while his midterms were just starting.

They were both doing really well with the emotional-monogamy thing! Emma was totally growing as a person. Or something.

"Oooo... yes, I do. I should do French tips in silver sparkles," she mused, pulling out the little Tupperware container with all her nail polish. "And what have you been doing, Mr. Priest? Besides telling all the girls that they're prettier than a tapestry?"

[bitten_notshy]

"I save that compliment for very special girls," Jack said, and then hesitated. When he spoke again, his voice was darker and quieter. "I went to Beacon Hills with Derek again."

[icecoldfrost]

There was a momentary pause as Emma wished her telepathy worked better across dimensional timelines, and then;

"Do you want to talk about it, or do you want to deflect for a bit and listen to me babble on about my classes while you process things?" she asked, bluntly but kindly. "And you're coming home - here, home, to me - after your midterms are done. At least for the weekend."

[bitten_notshy]

"I'll be there first thing Friday," Jack promised. Honestly, he couldn't face much more time without her. "No, I can talk about it. There was torture, my knee got shot, Derek had to kill his uncle. Typical things that happen whenever I leave the island, really."

He sounded so careless about it that it was obvious he cared very much.

[icecoldfrost]

"You're grounded from going anywhere off-island with Derek," Emma informed him briskly. "For at least a week. I'm starting to think that Beacon Hills is trying to challenge Karla's world for first prize in Traumatizing Dimensions."

"...Please tell me you're not the one that got tortured?" Emma would still feel bad if it was someone else. Probably. But she was holding out hope that it hadn't been Jack.

[bitten_notshy]

"I didn't get as tortured as Derek did." That was good, right? "He had a personal history with the hunter who caught us. I think that hurt him worse than whatever she was doing with electricity."

He added, "I would have grounded myself if you hadn't gotten to it first, you know."

[icecoldfrost]

"So you would up getting tortured with electricity, but not as much as Derek because she was, what, paying special attention to him?" Emma asked, slowly. "Since you and Derek are grounded, is there anyone in Beacon Hills who'd be willing to introduce me to the lady in question?"

[bitten_notshy]

"I wish. Derek's uncle killed her. Oh, and then Derek had to kill him because he was too dangerous to let live." He paused. "My friends really do show me the nicest places, don't they?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Guess who's getting a doctor visit to Haaaaaa~aaaaank," Emma sang, making it a joke so that she wouldn't scream. "Just to make sure that as brilliant as you are, the electricity didn't do anything else shocking."

"...and if you're a good boy, Nurse Emma will kiss it better later." When they were back at her apartment and not in Hank's lair.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack closed his eyes, grateful for Emma's particular form of caretaking. "All right. As long as Hank's gentle with me this time."

[icecoldfrost]

"He'll be gentle," Emma promised. "While you've got that werewolf healing, I just want him to look at your knee to make sure it healed right." And to check for nerve damage because he'd been electrocuted, but Emma was not above fibbing a bit to soothe him. "Your friends do not show you nice places. They're bad influences."

[bitten_notshy]

"I think everyone I've ever known and liked has been a bad influence, yourself included," Jack said wryly. "It's one of the ways I'm cursed."

He was kidding, but he wasn't.

[icecoldfrost]

"Lies and slander," she retorted cheerfully. "I was a Nice Girl before I fell in with you."

No you weren't, Emma.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack snorted. "There are nice girls who manage on their own on the streets of New York for months and months? I'd like to meet one. She probably knows the tooth fairy."

[icecoldfrost]

"Have you seen Hank's teeth?" Emma joked. "With fangs like that, he is definitely the tooth fairy."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack snorted out a laugh. "You're right. Obviously you are a perfectly nice girl."

Feeling more comfortable, he went on, "Can I ask you something a bit serious? Or is it time for you to chatter about your classes?"

[icecoldfrost]

Dammit, why didn't telepathy work over phones? It would make life so much easier.

"You can ask," she answered, keeping her tone light. "I can't promise a completely serious answer."

[bitten_notshy]

If telepathy worked over phones, Jack wouldn't need to ask the question.

"I was talking to Derek," he said, and hesitated. "About love and sex and how they're hard to tell apart, and ... do you think it was wrong for Sebastien to be with me?"

It was one of those questions you ask when you've thought something through, and don't like the answer you've come to, and want someone else to tell you you're wrong.

[icecoldfrost]

"Please hold," Emma said pleasantly, setting down the phone.

With Jack's werewolf-enhanced hearing, he could probably hear her walk across the apartment and bang her head against something wooden a few times before coming back and settling back on her bed.

"I never made a secret of the fact I felt it was inappropriate," she said, being as openly honest as she was capable of being. "It didn't matter how mature you were, or that you honestly, completely adored him. Or that he loves you in whatever manner vampires can love. He was hundreds of years your senior, your guardian, and you were in no condition to give consent."

"That said," she continued before he could interrupt, "--was it wrong for all of us who were doing the Bedroom Ballet? None of us knew the difference between love and sex, and were - and still are, mostly, - damaged as hell?"

"Which is the long way of saying it wasn't his best idea ever, I still don't approve of his choice and probably never will, and he's very very lucky that things didn't explode in his face," she finished.

[bitten_notshy]

Well. Jack should have known that was coming. He bit on a knuckle to center himself before he spoke. (To be honest, for years he'd thought Emma was snarky about Sebastien for the same reasons he'd been snarky about Peter Bishop: Simple jealousy.)

"I had a choice too, you know," he pointed out, because he had to. Because otherwise this would completely undercut the story he'd told himself for years and years and years.

"But the rest of it -- that's what I thought. He'd raised me. That's not at all like when you and I and Alex and Effie and Rose were acting like characters in a French farce." A pause. "And you're welcome to call me an idiot for taking this long to figure it out, or for making you spell out ... everything you just said."

[icecoldfrost]

Well, jealousy had also played a large part of it, but Emma wasn't ready to admit that yet. No one said she had to be completely emotionally self-aware or healthy.

Emma sighed and rubbed at her eyes. "Of course you're an idiot, but you're not the only one," she replied affectionately. "You are male, after all."

HONESTLY.

"And of course you had a choice. If he had approached you and you'd said no, he completely would have respected it. I don't think he planted the idea in your mind or any nonsense like that, and if it had been me in the same circumstances, I might have done the same as you. He'd taken you in from a horrible situation and raised you with love and care."

"And while I get that vampires see time and age very differently than us mere mortals for obvious reasons... he was your everything at that point. Could you have refused if he had asked?"

[bitten_notshy]

"If he'd asked," Jack said, after a pause, "I would have felt guilty for making him ask. That I should have offered before it got to that point. Devotion does that, you know."